SAN Banco Santander SA

By Adria Calatayud

Banco Santander SA said Thursday that it expects higher profitability in 2023 after the bank reported a broadly flat net profit for the fourth quarter.

The Spanish lender said it is targeting double-digit revenue growth and a return on tangible equity--a key measure of profitability--above 15% in 2023.

Santander said net profit for the fourth quarter was 2.29 billion euros ($2.52 billion) compared with EUR2.28 billion reported for the year-earlier period.

Total revenue for the fourth quarter grew to EUR13.52 billion from EUR11.78 billion a year before, with net interest income--the difference between what banks earn on loans and pay clients for deposits--coming in at EUR10.16 billion.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected Santander's fourth-quarter net profit to be EUR2.14 billion on total revenue of EUR13.38 billion.

The bank's fully-loaded core equity Tier 1 ratio--a measure of financial strength--was 12.04% at the end of the quarter, down from 12.10% as of Sept. 30.

For 2022, Santander's return on tangible equity stood at 13.37%.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 02, 2023 01:26 ET (06:26 GMT)

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